Summary: 90
The Intergalactic Medium
Richard C. Henry
Center for Astrophysical Sciences
The Henry A. Rowland Department of Physics and Astronomy
The Johns Hopkins University Baltimore, Maryland 21218-2686
henry@jhu.edu
Abstract. It is remarkable that a small space satellite mission can be created that has, potentially, the capability
of detection of the dark matter of the universe, and in particular, detection of the intergalactic medium. I
describe the approach for such a sample mission, and I also briefly comment on, and illustrate, black holes;
black holes represent another candidate for the "missing" baryonic dark matter in the Universe.
INTRODUCTION
I ask the question, what role can small missions (say, NASA SMEX and MIDEX missions)
play in the search for the intergalactic medium and the search for the dark matter of the
Universe. I am the Principal Investigator on HUBE (which currently stands for "Hot
Universe Background Explorer.") HUBE is an example of a mission that one could hope
might lead to the direct detection of the intergalactic medium. The high point (so far) in my
attempt to implement HUBE, was the acceptance of HUBE by NASA in 1996 as the MIDEX
alternate to MAP. HUBE will be submitted once again in the next SMEX round, and of
course I very much hope for actual implementation.